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Minoan completes acquisition of Stewart Travel Centres

Long standing Scottish agency Stewart Travel Centre is to be taken over by Minoan for £545,000.

The expanding leisure group acquired a 19.9% stake in the agency last summer and has now agreed to purchase the rest of the business, which also trades as Scotland’s Cruise Centre.

Stewart Travel employs 67 staff and was established in 1972 by founder Willie Stewart, one of the best known names in Scottish ravel industry and chairman of Advantage Travel Centres.

Willie Stewart will be appointed a director of Stewart Travel Limited, the wholly owned subsidiary of Minoan that is acquiring Stewart.

The company generated a net profit of £107,000 last year on gross revenues of £19.7 million and commission of £2.1 million.

Minoan chairman Christopher Egleton said: “The initial results of the group’s travel and leisure business are very encouraging and the board is confident that the full integration of Stewart will serve to further improve the performance of this section of the group’s business.

“The group is already targeting a number of further travel distribution opportunities whilst continuing to build its online presence and review certain strategic partnerships.”

The deal was announced as Minoan reported bookings down by 2% in the four months to the end of February ovee the same period last year.

“This compares with tough general market conditions where bookings, according to latest industry figures, are approximately 14% down on the comparable period in 2011,” the company said.

“However, in the key trading period of January and February the group’s bookings, including Stewart, are in line with the previous year. In the same period, sales commission is approximately 5% ahead of the previous year.

“This positive trend has been achieved during the initial period of integration of the businesses and further improvement is anticipated by the board following the acquisition of Stewart as all three businesses acquired become fully integrated and the local economies of scale anticipated are achieved.”

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